India, Nepal security talks after 4 yrs

Ending a four year break in dialogue, India and Nepal resumed bilateral talks on security issues in Kathmandu on Thursday.

The-two-day joint secretary level talks between both neighbours, since the last one in New Delhi in 2007, will deliberate on border management, trans-border crime, human trafficking and smuggling of fake Indian currency through the open border.

The Indian delegation is being led by KK Mittal, joint secretary (Border Management) while the Nepali side is headed by Sudhir Shah, joint secretary (Home Ministry).

Besides security issues and information sharing, the two sides are also expected to discuss about construction of the Nepal Police Academy at Panauti with Indian assistance of 5 billion Nepali rupees.

"Encroachment of each other’s territories, repair and management of border pillars and meetings of border district coordination committees were also discussed," said a Home Ministry source.

The last Indo-Nepal home-secretary level talks were held in Kathmandu in November 2009 where both countries had agreed not to allow their territories to be used for cross-border terrorism.

The present talks are expected to lay the groundwork for the home secretary level talks between the two nations expected to be held in the Indian capital next month.

Sources say the home-secretary level talks are likely to take place before Nepal’s new Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s expected to visit to India next month, on invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Though India and Nepal had agreed to hold joint-secretary level security talks every six months to focus on security along the 1800-km long border between them, they have not been held for the past four years.